The 2nd Act Film Festival is a unique take on the curated film project. Presented byJasper Magazine, its mission is to encourage and promote the growth of independent filmmaking in South Carolina.

We gave filmmakers the 1st Act and the 3rd Act (one page each) of a script. The filmmakers job was to write the 2nd Act and make the film. All films will screen at Tapp's Arts Center in Columbia, SC on October 10th, 2013.

Over the next few days we'll be introducing you to the 2nd Act filmmakers and filling you in on a few details about the event and all the local artists so generously involved in making it possible. Today you're meeting the team of O.K. Keyes and Alexis Stratton. Their film is called Crosswalk.

O.K. Keyes and Alexis Stratton

O.K. is a cinematographer from South Carolina. She has been the director of photography for a number of short films, and recently completed principal photography for her first feature, Her Tragedy. She is a graduate student in Media Arts at the University of South Carolina with a concentration in Cinematography. Her thesis is focused on exploring Southern queer narratives and the construction of gender and sexuality from behind the lens.

Alexis is a native of Illinois but has spent her life in many homes, from New Orleans to South Korea. She received an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of South Carolina and works as an educator for a non-profit organization in Columbia, SC. Her writing has recently appeared in Oyez Review, Ayris Magazine, and Bare Root Review, and she won the 2012 BLOOM Chapbook Contest for Fiction.

About The 2nd Act Film Festival

As part of Jasper's mission to cultivate the arts in Columbia, we decided that something needed to exist here, in our city, that specifically brought Columbia filmmakers together to work on one singular project. With that goal in mind, the Second Act Film Festival was

The Second Act Film Festival exists in two parts. The first is a film project which was created to challenge SC filmmakers with a unique and creative goal. The second part is the film festival itself. A one-night screening of all the films created by the filmmakers chosen by a panel of experts to participate in the project.

In early August of this year, the call was put out to SC filmmakers to take part in the 2nd Act Film Fest. This past week, ten filmmakers were chosen to participate. We gave them the first and last pages of a short film script that was written with the help of professional author Janna McMahan(1st and 3rd acts, respectively). All the filmmakers received the exact same script pages. It then became their job to write the second act and make the movie. All films will be screened at the Tapp's Arts Center for the festival on October 10th, 2013. All films will be compiled into a single DVD. And all scripts will be bound and published and submitted to the Library of Congress.

Funds raised from our campaign will be used to offset the cost of putting on the festival itself. These costs include renting the facility, printing, equipment rental, advertising, and other minor miscellaneous costs.

Please consider becoming an integral part of this project by supporting us --no matter how minimally -- on Kickstarter. We are less than $100 from our goal. Thanks!